I've put a good dent in a bottle of two-buck Chuck, and am feeling quite merry. There is cause to celebrate: after a good stretch in the greedy clutches of one of those hateful spam companies, kingsrugby.com is back in my greedy clutches, where it belongs. For now I have placed a bulletin board up there, for old and new members of the venerable KCRUFC to get in touch with each other. I include this notice here as both a mark of my triumph, and in case any alumni of the sporting powerhouse should read this.

In a related note, EA Rugby 2005 is a cracking game, although I'm unsure about their choice of a side-on camera, which seems just about useless for organizing passing between the backs. Thankfully it can be changed in the game options. The added bonus is that the name 'Taylor' is included amongst the incredible array of variables in the Create A Player section, and so the commentators will drop my name during the game, should I choose to substitute myself for Steve Thompson (no offense, Steve - we all know you're the king).

I was just reading an interesting article about Alan Moore's continued grief with his comics properties being optioned for movies by his publishers. I actually liked LXG and Constantine, and found a lot of truth in Michael Connelly's opinion that, if you accept the money, you have to accept the inevitable changes and remember that your original work remains intact. But DC and Co.'s treatment of Moore does seem to have gone way beyond the pale. At least Clint Eastwood sat Connelly down and explained to him all the changes he had planned for Blood Work. And, of course, Connelly probably had greater control of his intellectual property than Alan Moore (creator rights in comics being what they are). Anyway, he's already giving the thumbs-down V For Vendetta, and, with this coming on the heels of the worrying news about X3, I find myself praying that Batman Begins is awesome enough to carry us through some of the rougher days for comic book movies that seem to lie ahead. I have a lot of hope pinned on Christian Bale, of whose performance in Equilibrium I am a very vocal fan, but every trailer seems to have him hamming it up something awful when he pulls on the suit...I guess we shall find out in a couple of weeks...

Oh, and Flight of the Phoenix was quite entertaining. Except I'd have probably pushed Giovanni Ribisi off of the plane. Closer was absolutely reprehensible. Most anyone will probably attest that I am quite a colourful individual, but dropping the c-bomb all over the place does not art make. It all reminded me of the last line of Eyes Wide Shut, which struck me as quite an embarassing legacy for Mr. Kubrick...